Later on, photos of Yuan Xi were released by a reporter.
Everyone laughed at Yan Zhen, mocking him for having doted on that little princess in his palm for so many years, only to find out she was a slut.
He actually had the chance to stop that reporter and delete those photos to protect his girl.
But after leaving that hotel that day, unable to bear the mental gap and pain, he went to the bar where he had reserved for her birthday party. He sat inside, looking at the flower wall he had decorated for her and drowning his sorrows in alcohol.
He had originally planned to propose to her under this flower wall.
Yuan Ya'er stayed by his side all the time, soothing him with gentle words.
He wondered, what had she said at that time?
She said, "Brother Yan Zhen, stop drinking. Sister Xiaoxi is so beautiful. How could she possibly take a fancy to such a lousy man? She must have had her own difficulties. A phone call came for her yesterday and took her out. Could she have been threatened? If Sister Xiaoxi is really in trouble, you two should sit down and have a good talk. Drinking like this won't solve the problem."
Yuan Ya'er's words made him think of those unanswered call records on his phone.
So, he was convinced that Yuan Xi had deliberately betrayed him.
He had given her many chances that night, but she had given them up herself.
Those two days, he got drunk and woke up, then got drunk again. By the time he left that bar, everything had already spiraled into an irreversible situation.
His birthday was only a few days different from Yuan Xi's.
On his 19th birthday party, the Yuan family brought Yuan Xi in front of him. He could tell that Yuan Xi wanted to apologize and reconcile with him, but he didn't want that anymore. He didn't want to be gossiped about by others, nor did he want to deceive himself.
She had completely lost his trust.
When he learned that the Yuan family was going to marry her off to that ugly and fat man, there was actually a sense of revenge in his heart. But when he learned that she had fled Fengcheng and disappeared without a trace, he panicked. He regretted treating her like that, forcing her, and secretly had people look for her for a long time.
It took him four years to get over that incident. During these four years, Yuan Ya'er had always been by his side, guiding and encouraging him. Naturally, he fell in love with Yuan Ya'er.
He had thought more than once that Yuan Ya'er was the wife he wanted. She wasn't so beautiful that too many people would covet her. Being with her was very comfortable. He didn't need to constantly coax her like a little princess. He could get the attention and warmth he wanted from her.
They got married smoothly and became a formal couple. The bloodstain on the bedsheet completely healed the wound in his heart. He thought this was the best outcome.
But now, one by one, doubts that were enough to overturn his perception emerged like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, repeatedly telling him that what had happened four years ago was completely different from what he had seen.
Can our eyes really not deceive us?
In his memory, on that night four years ago, he hadn't received any phone calls from Yuan Xi.
On the contrary, before Yuan Xi left the bar, he hadn't called Yuan Xi either.
Four years ago, Ji Xinyue told him that Yuan Xi had left after receiving a phone call, but she didn't say who the call was from, so he didn't think it was related to himself.
Also, from the surveillance footage the next day, whether entering or leaving the hotel, the man who had ruined his fiancée's innocence seemed to be that Guan Baocheng.
- But just over a month ago, in Haicheng, he found out that the man who had been with Yuan Xi on that night four years ago was actually his uncle!
- It was only half an hour ago that he learned from other people who had attended the birthday party that the person who had called Yuan Xi was "him"! Ji Xinyue had been lying to him!
The mysterious phone call, the chocolate with a missing corner, the sudden appearance of Guan Baocheng, the lying Ji Xinyue, the repentant reporter...
When these seemingly unconnected pieces of information were put together, the answer he didn't want to admit automatically popped up in his mind.
- What you saw and heard four years ago was all fake. You were deceived.
Who could have meticulously designed this scam?
In front of him, Yuan Ya'er was still saying,
"Husband, how about we find some time to meet Sister Xiaoxi? Sooner or later, we have to resolve the conflicts among the three of us. If Sister Xiaoxi really marries Uncle, we'll be a family. A family should be united and help each other. Am I right?"
Was it Yuan Ya'er?
They had indeed been together on that night four years ago, but his phone had never left his side. She couldn't have tampered with his phone. Moreover, later on, she had always been by his side looking for Yuan Xi, never leaving his sight by more than three meters, and never using her phone to contact others to arrange any schemes.
Could it be that she had nothing to do with it?
Was it all planned by Ji Xinyue alone?
But his uncle and grandma had been in a car accident on their way back, and the driver had fled after the accident. This was obviously a murder.
Ji Xinyue was just a dying invalid now. How could she have the ability to design a car accident to kill his uncle and grandma?
Yuan Ya'er had been talking for a long time, and Yan Zhen just stared at her intently, making her extremely flustered inside. She touched her face and asked, "Husband, why are you looking at me like this? Is there something on my face?"
Yan Zhen probed, "I don't want to see Xiaoxi. I do want to see Ji Xinyue."
Yuan Ya'er's heart raced wildly, and she almost couldn't control the expression on her face. "You... Why do you want to see her?"
"I want to ask her why, even though I saw the pictures with my own eyes four years ago, Ji Xinyue said they were Photoshopped. Ya Ya, don't you want to know?"
Just as Yuan Ya'er was about to answer, Yan Zhen continued,
"Ya Ya, do you still remember? It was Ji Xinyue who called you that morning to tell us that Xiaoxi was in the hotel."
"Ya Ya, it was also Ji Xinyue who stayed in the bar that night and told us that Xiaoxi had left after receiving a phone call."
"I'm thinking, why is she involved in every step of the way?"
"So, I have to ask her myself. That night, did Xiaoxi lose her virginity voluntarily or involuntarily?"
He paused for two seconds after each sentence, observing Yuan Ya'er's reaction.
On Yuan Ya'er's face, there appeared expressions of deep thought, surprise, and finally fear.
"Brother Yan Zhen, when you put it like this, I do find it strange! Oh my god, I never thought there were so many conspiracies hidden in it! You're right. We should go and see Ji Xinyue first and clarify what happened back then!"
Yan Zhen frowned imperceptibly. Yuan Ya'er seemed flawless.
Was he just being paranoid?
"But should we go and see Ji Xinyue now?"
Yuan Ya'er asked. She hesitated for a moment and then said, "This incident has just been exposed on the Internet. Will there be reporters outside Ji Xinyue's ward for interviews? If we just go and ask her these questions like this, what if the reporters find out? Wouldn't all the arrangements Uncle made for Sister Xiaoxi be ruined?"
That strange feeling came over him again.
After hearing what she said, his first reaction was that she was indeed considering Xiaoxi, but upon closer thought, he realized that her real purpose was to stop him from seeing Ji Xinyue.
"You're right," Yan Zhen tried to keep himself sober and said. "Let's go in a few days then."
Yuan Ya'er secretly let out a sigh of relief and nodded with a smile. "Okay! I'll listen to you."